Christmas Story 2013

Before He was born the government, wanting to increase taxes

in order to squeeze even more money out of the people, required

that every person register at their home town. At nine months

pregnant His mother, knowing that bureaucrats would not make

exceptions, made the difficult journey with her husband.

Concern for the life of a person who believed in only one God

was not a concern for a government that would later order

the death of hundreds of innocents in order to find the One

who threatened the authority of the ruling elite. When He

began His ministry the devil offered Him everything for free,

but He refused. Instead He set free those who were in bondage to

sickness, evil spirits and sexual sin. “Go and sin no more” He

advised a lady who was about to be stoned to death by a group who

harbored their own sexual perversions. Ironically He made friends

with a tax collector, sending him out with others to begin the

establishment of a kingdom where the poor could have One that

would make sure they were clothed and fed. Freedom of the

individual was not popular with any of the ruling classes He

would encounter. Eventually they would try to silence Him by

lies, defamation and eventually execution. But they could not.

He defeated not only death but the bondage’s caused by sin. He

takes from no one but gives to all. He loves all and calls all to

be free from the judgment that their sin will require. He gave

all freely and because of that in Him is our redemption, our freedom.

Merry Christmas to all and may you experience His blessings this

coming year in new and exciting ways.  

The Three Thirty Three Workout

The concept for a revolutionary new workout came to me early one morning after my usual breakfast of a large glass of orange juice, honey nut cheerios and chocolate doughnuts.  I saw an ad on TV demonstrated by a 30'ish guy and gal wearing tight stretchy shorts and showing off sculptured six-packs and abs in which they were going crazy doing one difficult and complicated exercise after another.  I looked at the screen, looked down at my belly and thought, oh well, not going to happen.

But then it occurred to me that change was possible.  In a moment of brilliant clarity I realized that the trick to making a workout or diet successful is to find something that one can realistically do, over time, without giving up and returning to the old lifestyle.

This can be done with my easy to remember and simple to execute Three Thirty Three Workout.

Three times a day, three times a week you engage in a thirty second workout.

I have designed 33 maximum effort 30 second workouts that will push you to your aerobic limits and will melt off comfortable but ugly fat by the pounds.  Combined with slight dietary changes you should expect to eventually lose 33% of that excess fat (unless you get hit by a car or something).

There are no DVD's required.  No fancy equipment.  No books or pamphlets or charts or trips to a so called health club with their questionable hygienics, high pressure salespeople and the guy in the corner who eyeballs all the ladies.  The Three Thirty Three Workout can easily fit into anybody's busy schedule.

Special clothing is not required (although I will offer a spiffy Three Thirty Three Workout shirt and bandana to be worn in public so the world can find out about it and get healthy).  You can fit in the exercises at home or at work and not have to worry about nasty sweat ruining your appearance.  Heck, after a few months you will begin to sport that healthy glow that says - LOOK AT ME.  I CAN DO ANYTHING!.

Here are several of the thirty second exercises I have designed.  Some may take a few weeks for you to be able to last the entire thirty seconds, but that's OK!  Eventually you will get there and get good doing them.  You are free to mix and match the exercises any way you want.  One day or one week you might want to do the same one all three times.  Perhaps like me you get easily bored and so will not have any two days be the same.  No matter what way you choose in time you will become master of your body and master of the Three Thirty Three Workout.

Running In Place  -  Find a place with a sturdy floor, clear of any close obstacles and run in place as fast as you can.  This may take a few weeks to work up to the full 30 seconds.

Praying Hands  -  Place your fingertips and palms together, elbows up, and push together as hard as you can.  Prayers done while doing this get sent up extra fast.

Double Fist Pump - Make two fists, elbows up, imagine someone or something that really irks you, and shake your fists as rapidly as possible.  You may be tempted to instantly repeat this one so discipline is required.

Belly Pound -  This is one of my favorites.  Make two fists and then pound your fat belly like a drum with the finger side of your fists.  Move the abuse around for maximum benefit and less bruising.

As you can see, if done properly a full range of muscle groups can be engaged.  You will begin looking good, feeling good and maybe even start acting good.  Not bad for only thirty seconds a day, three times a day, three days a week. 

Heaven Or Hell

The other night I had just finished shoveling the driveway.  It was about 12 degrees and as I looked up, sharp cold against my face, I could see that the sky was mostly clear except for puffs of white clouds streaming rapidly above me from West to East.  The whole experience was incredibly beautiful.

"Are there cold shimmering nights in Heaven where one stands in awe of what God has created?" I wondered.  "Does the Eskimo think of Heaven being like this?  Can man even comprehend the tenth of what awaits us?"

I have been reading the gospel of Matthew this month and in it Jesus tells a bunch of parables about the kingdom of Heaven.  The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until is was all leavened . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard . . . The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

It says in Matthew 13: 34-35  All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:  "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES: I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD."  After this Jesus disciples come to Him and ask Him to explain the parable of the tares of the field (a man who sowed good seed in the field).

And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;

and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of the kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness; and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then The Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father,

He who has ears, let him hear . . .

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind,

and when it was filled, they threw it up on the beach;  and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

So it will be at the end of the age;  the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire,

in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We are confronted in Matthew with a little shocking news; not all will be sons and daughters of the kingdom and those that are not will end up in a place which is described in two ways; a furnace of fire and a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This little bit of information does not come from my imagination or made up by theologians to be placed in  the canons of organized religion.  It was proclaimed to us by Jesus as heard first hand by one of His disciples, Matthew, the tax collector.


Just as I cannot begin to comprehend God who made the heavens and the earth and created in them incredible beauty which ultimately speaks of Him, so too I cannot comprehend the anguish and pain of being separated from the love of God for eternity.  Heaven I can dream of but what it really looks and feels like is mostly speculation.  And Hell?  It is not for me to downplay and suggest that Jesus didn't really know what He was talking about.

The world wants to ignore ultimate truth.  It calls darkness light and says that God cannot judge because God is love.

God is love, but I don't get to define what that means.  He is holy and righteous and worthy of all praise, and I only slightly understand what that all means.  He is just, and I certainly only partly comprehend what His justice requires. Sometimes when I realize my ignorance I tremble.  He is so much more than I can take in. Now I see through a glass darkly but one day I will see Him face to face.

We all know the verse from the 3rd chapter of John where Jesus says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life and it goes on to say that God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Jesus then goes on to say;  

He who believes in Him is not judged;

he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This is the judgment,

that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

It is time to step out of the darkness and into the light.  It is time to humble oneself and learn that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  I would rather witness to the joy and peace that He gives each and every day and tell you how I see my Lord in things both great and small.  But we must also hear this clear warning.  There is a place called a furnace of fire and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.   He who has ears, let him hear . . .

     

Grace

It seems to me quite ironic that in the Christian world it is the concept of what grace is that separates groups.  Historically it has been East verses West, Luther verses Rome, Jansenist verses Jesuits, Calvinism verses Arminianism, Conservatives verses Liberals and so forth.  Throw in the differing companion views concerning what is the depravity of man and eternal security and you have a church not quite ready to sit down together at the communion table.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,

so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Eph: 1: 18-19)

It was near the end of my 22^nd year when I asked Jesus to come into my heart as Savior and Lord. Until then, and despite growing up in a religious environment, I had walked in darkness. This darkness was not brought about because of my actions, rebellious as they indeed were. It was there because I did not know the Lord of light. My religion taught that my baptism as an infant brought into my soul sanctifying grace which canceled something I was born with, original sin, and that sanctifying grace would stay with me unless I committed a mortal sin. I was taught that because of baptism I was alive in Christ and would one day join Him in eternity.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,

according to the prince of the power of the air,

of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (Eph: 2:1-2)

But I was not alive in Christ.  My spirit had not been reborn through baptism and I was the lord of my own soul.  Oh yes, I knew about God. I knew that my church taught that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. I knew there was someone called the Holy Spirit. But I did not actually know Jesus or comprehend God in the slightest. I had nothing but theology to base hope on. My prayers then were not a conversation with Someone who later on had changed my heart and opened my eyes to a spiritual world that was just as real as the physical. Although I fell quite short of living a holy life I believed that I was as good as the next guy and that God, if He really existed, would give me full credit for being a nice guy.

But God, being rich in mercy,

because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive

together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Eph: 2: 4-5)

It was finally when I realized that Jesus died for me, personally, that I asked Him to come into my heart and surrendered the lordship of my soul to Him.  That was over 40 years ago and everything in my life changed;  not because I adopted a set of religious beliefs but because it was now my desire to follow Him and be lead by his Holy Spirit where ever They would lead.  The Word of God became alive to me and I would read it and study it and meditate upon it.  In doing so I discovered that there were in my religion quite a large number of beliefs and practices that were not found in scripture, ran contrary to scripture, or were supported by certain scriptures used out of context. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves,

it is the gift of God;

not as a result of works, so that no man can boast. (Eph: 2: 8-9)

My original church's concept of grace was one of these.  To me it seems that in the above scripture grace simply means that God gave us salvation even though we didn't deserve it or work for it.  We believe that Jesus death and resurrection were personally for us and God responds by doing something.  Grace means that we have found favor with God.  

But beginning in the 5th century St. Augustine started seeing grace as being a substance that could be produced, stored and then transferred mainly but not exclusively through (drum roll please) the sacraments of the church (thus requiring a priesthood).  Grace was produced by the life, sufferings and death of Jesus (an immeasurable amount), the sufferings of martyrs, the anguish of Mary at seeing Jesus crucified and other like events.  This grace is kept in a storehouse located somewhere in Heaven but managed by the church in partnership with God.  Grace can also be produced through prayer and good works and doing religious acts that are proscribed by the administering church and these are credited to the account of the doer (but can be transferred to someone else).

Thus the view of salvation is that all are born with a soul that inherits the original sin of Adam and Eve.  At baptism a soul is infused with the substance of grace which covers (but apparently does not dissolve) original sin and as long as that grace stays there a person will go to Heaven.  All subsequent sin resides in the soul and needs an infusion of (actual) grace to cancel out or dissolve that sin.  Somehow the church has determined that grace is not transferred in sufficient quantity during one's lifetime to remove all sin and so a soul when it's body dies must go to a holding place until such time as enough grace can be applied.

For we are His workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand

so that we would walk in them. (Eph: 2: 10)

When I surrendered my life to Jesus it cost me everything.  I DIED IN CHRIST.  In return my spirit was reborn and I became a new creation and the Holy Spirit resides in me.  The struggle now is to yield my soul to what the Holy Spirit desires.  Every day I desire my own will but am confronted with the fact that I am no longer the lord of my life.  

I want to please Him.  I want to be in His will.  I want so desperately for others to know that all they see in this world is but an illusion and that there will be nothing better for them than to experience a life in Christ, free from the demands of this godless world.  There are crowns in Heaven and though I do not live to earn a jewel in a crown I am often comforted by the thought that there are rewards for those that hold fast.  Even then I am weak - but His grace is sufficient for me.

Josefina And Ignacio

During the course of a driving test today the dad of a Hispanic girl found out that I was a Christian and he told me this story:

Earlier in the 1900's two men traveled to a rural area in Mexico to a little village set in a valley.  It was actually smaller than a village and more properly could be called a ranch.  As they were greeting the local inhabitants they were told to avoid talking to a couple known as Josefina and Ignacio.  "They are crazy" the people said.  "They believe in a god who is everywhere."

The two men started thinking about this and they thought that if there was a god who was everywhere then he could be found on top of the local mountain.  They climbed the mountain and started calling out; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"  Again they called out louder; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"  A third time they called out as loud as they could; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"

Just then there is lightning and thunder and the God of Josefina and Ignacio appears to them.  They fall on their faces and begin to speak in tongues.

When they get up it is night and they notice that in the valley there is a house that is on fire.  They head down to see it and at the same time the people of the village/ranch wrap rags and tar around large sticks to make touches and they go check out the burning house as well.  When the locals get there they see the two men approaching.  The faces of the two men are glowing.

The dad tells me that this was the beginning of the Assemblies of God Church in Mexico.  The men later established a church there which was known as a tabernacle and started many other tabernacles throughout the region in Mexico also.  He said that this story can be found in the annals of the Assemblies of God for Mexico.

"And what is your interest in this story?" I ask after we complete the test.

"One of those men was my uncle."

So I Gave A Ride To A Homeless Guy . . .

This has been quite a week at work for me.

First there were the two different women who on the same afternoon went berserk after finding out they failed their driving test.  The woman from India, who was taking the test for the second time because she was driving on the wrong side of the road and blew through a stop sign the first time, sped up when a traffic light turned yellow and missed it by, oh, about 30 yards.  Through tears she told me (I didn't know she could speak English because her husband was translating for her) that this is all so stupid and it shouldn't matter if she made one little mistake and she will never take another driving test again - EVER!  I smiled and said that was OK and when I got out of the car and was walking away she began a tremendous rant on her husband, slamming the car door at least three times.

An hour after that came a 17 year old who had previously failed twice.  She would not make eye contact with me and I could feel the heat the minute we began doing paperwork.  She barely passes the parking lot portion so we go out for our drive and throughout the test Audrey is making exaggerated head checks but I can see from looking at her eyes in the rear view mirror that she indeed is looking but notices nothing.  We are on busy 28th street and I tell Audrey to change lanes to the left when safe.  She does her head check, looks right at the car in the other lane and starts to move over to the left.  Her mom in the back seat says; "Audrey, NO".  The other car beeps their horn and Audrey says; "What are they so hot and bothered about?"  I look back at the mom and put my finger to my lips to indicate that she must keep quite.  When get on the freeway and I again ask Audrey to change lanes to the left when safe.  Three times she does her blind spot check, three times she begins to move left, three times there is a car there and three times her mom says; "Audrey, NO".  By this time we are traveling 40 mph when the speed limit is 70 mph.

I explain all this to dear Audrey when we manage to get back to go, tell her that she failed because of the lane changes and the expressway speed, show her what she can do to correct the driving problems she has  and then am not the least bit surprised when she does not take it well.  "I AM ALMOST 18 YEARS OLD.  MY LIFE IS OVER.  I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET A DRIVER'S LICENSE.  I DID SO WELL ON THE PARKING AND THEN I FAIL THIS STUPID DRIVING".  Her mother, who is part of Audrey's problem because she obviously has been making all of Audrey's driving decisions for her understands what I am saying and tries to calm her down but to no avail.  "MOM, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.  I WILL NEVER TRY TO DRIVE AGAIN.  I AM ALMOST 18 AND MY LIFE IS OVER".  I smile and say it is time for me to leave and can hear Audrey ranting in the parked car for about another 10 minutes.

The next day I had an 18 year old guy who entered the residential area at the beginning of the driving portion of the test and went to the left side of the road,  As we approached the first stop sign I tell Carlos to turn left.  He positions his car on the left side of the road, turns left and now I'm wondering how long it will be before he corrects himself.  There wasn't any other traffic so we go 4 blocks on the left side.  When we turn left onto 32nd, a much busier street, Carlos begins to enter the left lane but sees a couple of cars approaching and swerves over to the right lane.  We go immediately back to our parking lot and I tell Carlos; "If we were in England I might have better news for you."

Before Carlos showed up I had two other 18 year old guys on the same day who were sitting at a red light waiting to turn left and seeing no other traffic they begin to turn left.  This also happened twice this week at another intersection with two young girls on a left turn but with traffic.  Because there are other turning lanes but with out any cars needing to turn and those turning lanes prohibit through traffic from going my ladies see no one moving and they think perhaps they can turn left on red.  Ah, no. I need to stop all four from proceeding any further.  At least when we get back these guys and girls understood the error of their ways and despite failing seemed quite contrite.

Things lightened up a bit when I get into the car with bearded 42 year old Marquis.  Even though the heater was working fine Marquis wears his fur lined winter gloves and hat the entire route.  His upper front teeth are gold and he is decked out with diamond studs in his ears and a nice gold chain on one wrist with a gaudy watch on the other.  The watch band is about 2 inches wide and the face about 5 inches in diameter and both have about 4 rows of either diamonds or more likely cubic zirconia.  I couldn't resist myself so I say; "Marquis, what time is it?"  Marquis says "Huh?" and then after about 30 seconds remembers that he has a watch so he stares at the two watch hands on the watch face that doesn't have any numbers for awhile before I have mercy on him and laugh and tell him that I like his watch.

I ask Marquis what he does for work and he informs me that he is disabled.  When I ask what happened he tells me that he was just walking on a sidewalk one day and fell down.  It turns out he needed a hip replacement which he got two years ago but his hip still hurts.  Now the other hip is going bad.  He doesn't know what he is going to do.

All of this warmed me up for today.  My first client forgot to bring a required document but because they came quite early I was able to send them home to fetch it.  This gave me time to walk over to the nearby gas station for a bathroom break.  As I'm leaving the station store I'm met by a disheveled bearded guy about 50 years old who has a gallon of milk in one hand, a tiny red gas container in the other and two one dollar bills clutched in the hand with the milk.  He asks me if I can give him a ride to his van which is parked on 36th street.  Since that would only be a mile and since I had the time I told him I would.

As we are driving I introduce myself and he tells me his name is David.  In a very low and gravely voice David says; "My van ran out of gas.  I bummed two dollars off a woman at the station.  I'm homeless and I live in my van.  I don't know what to do."  I ask him how long he has been living in his van and he tells me for 4 months.  Then he repeats: "I'm homeless.  I live in my van.  I don't know what to do."  David then asks me if I have ever been homeless.  I tell him not really but that I'm now living with my mother-in-law so maybe that counts for something.  Oh course it doesn't and tonight Jackie and I are in a nice warm bed after having something decent to eat and yesterday we were surrounded by a load of kids and grandkids at Piper's 5th birthday and we were all having a great time.

We get to David's beat up van which is parked at the back of an apartment complex.  As he pushes himself out of my car holding his gallon of milk and half gallon of gas I hand him ten bucks and wish him God Bless.  He says God Bless back then starts to pour the gas into his van.  David is not all there and I don't know how to help him and although there are a number of places in Grand Rapids for David to stay and to get fed he still remains homeless.  He lives in his van.  He doesn't know what to do.  There are things far worse than failing your driving test.

The Death Of Reason

Last week I had an interesting discussion with a guy named Roy who has been a missionary in France for the past 13 years.  Ten per cent of the French population are Muslim Arabs who have immigrated or are descendents of immigrants from Northern Africa (France was a colonial power there) and that people group has been his main focus but the need for evangelism is great throughout the entire population.

Roy informed me that France is the most atheistic country in Western Europe with estimates that only one percent of the population have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Although legally France has freedom of religion the vast majority of people believe it is ignorant to espouse belief in a higher power and people that do so are often ridiculed.  The schools on the one hand teach the history of all the abuses of the organized church and on the other promote reasons not to believe in God.

In 1965 the percent of French claiming affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church was 87%.  In 2005 the percent was down to 65%. with only 5% of those attending mass on a regular basis.  Catholicism in France is now either only a cultural identification or if practiced is often intertwined with strong Marian belief and practices.

Roy said he knows many Catholics and ex Catholics who are believers.  He said it can be difficult for the ex Catholics to evangelize their countrymen because they now recognize the spiritual deception found in certain aspects of Catholic faith and practice such as in Marianism and cannot get past the idea that the only solution is to completely break with the Catholic Church like they did.  This of course puts the cart before the horse:   First one needs to encounter Jesus personally and then they need to have the Holy Spirit be the One to lead when and where He wills.  This is spiritual warfare 101.  As an ex Catholic myself I can easily understand the emotions.  I know other ex Catholics who at first were very bitter feeling that they had been spiritually deceived in the Catholic Church and bitterness is not a pathway too offer grace to others.

Roy told me that French history has much to do with the current state of Christianity in the country.  Church and state were strongly intertwined throughout much of France's past.  The Catholic Church were huge landowners, clergy were responsible for education and most civil records were kept by the Church.  After the Reformation the Huguenots (French Calvinists) became a small but influential part of French politics and this eventually led to a pogrom in 1572 where tens of thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered.  Guilt and slaughters obviously run both ways but in the 1700's a movement called The Enlightenment hit France.  This  eventually lead to the French Revolution which hated both monarchy and church.  The revolution eliminated the monarchy, confiscated all property owned by the church, made the education system secular and controlled by the state and transferred all record keeping to the state.  Reason was the new god, the Enlightenment authors the new apostles and woe to any who did not believe.

The Catholic Church initially survived in France but as a whole became much more focused on any of the practices and beliefs rejected by the Reformers.  The Catholic Church's response to the rapid changes in science, industry, education and all the rest of the dawning new age was to embrace all that was "mystical" in Catholic practice and doctrine, especially regarding Mary.  A religion emphasizing works, devotion and obedience which did not have as it's core the need to have a personal relationship with Christ, both recognizing Him as Savior and desiring Him as Lord, could not compete with a society and education system that was not just secular but anti faith as well.    

Today the French value education above all else.  They believe that education is the key to everything.  Roy told me that the roads were getting bad and the French solution was to put more money into education so that people could learn to be better drivers.  After years of that not working someone came up with the idea that maybe we should fix the roads.  They did and the auto death rate dropped dramatically.  Who knew?

Roy also told me that the French are the most pessimistic people in all of Europe.  Yes they love and enjoy life but when it's over that's all there is.  They grieve terrible when someone they know dies because they will never see them again and that's the end of that person's existence.  If someone's wife were to die let's say in an auto accident and the person responsible were to get a slap on the wrist and only serve a few years in prison the family will be very bitter toward that person because he robbed them of the only time they could ever have with her.  They feel cheated.

From time to time I have prayed for revival to come to France.  It is the country of my name sake, Robert de la Berge who emigrated to New France (Canada) from the Normandy region in France in the 1600's.  He and all the generations of LaBarges were Catholic until me.  After my conversation with Roy I am struck by another concern as well.  It seems that our country is where France was not that long ago.  The government is moving more and more into controlling the education system and the influence of the state into all areas of life is continuing to expand every year.  Gradually all references to God are being removed and people who  defend traditional values are being ridiculed.

This is not an accident.  Our society in America is being deliberately moved toward what atheistic and liberal  Christian leaders see as the French ideal.  Our countries spiritual DNA saw rights and freedoms as coming from God and treated man and government as imperfect.  Many leaders prayed for guidance and gave public thanks to God  for His blessings.  Today we are being taught to believe that rights and freedoms come from the state and man is on the path to being more noble, albeit through education.  And in the course of this all, step by step, we are surrendering our precious freedoms.  This happens when anything like government or religion substitutes for the move of the Holy Spirit and has been wisely called the tyranny of Utopianism.

Utopia needs a strong leader over a strong state so that conditions will be "fair" for all.  Although history has show us time and time again that it doesn't work the idea of Utopia motivates the man without faith who must also believe that man is basically good and will do what is right for society if he is only shown the perfection of reason.

But man cannot build a perfect world because he is imperfect and was designed by God to be dependent on Him and to be led by His Holy Spirit.  Man cannot build a perfect world because the god of this world is in rebellion against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Man cannot build a perfect world because the greatest minds of this age are in the end not wiser that a simpleton who has trust in God.

I pray for revival to come to France and to come to America as well.  I see in this not the tyranny of religion which demands obedience to a creed or belief but rather for the power of redeemed and changed lives to infuse society with faith, hope and love - and a rebirth of true reason.        

Nd

I had a dream earlier this week, admittedly fueled by my dinner of Hungry Howies pizza and chased down with a couple handfulls of cheddar Gold Fish crackers, where I remembered that my nephew Peter Johnson had invented a new word.

If you knew Peter you would understand that since he is just the type of fellow to invent new words and actually have a chance of getting them accepted into the English language that this would not seem strange to me in any way.

Leaving the house where we were and remembering that Peter had added to our language I spun around, went back inside and asked him what that word was again.  Peter told me it was "nd" (pronounced nid but spelled nd for brevity sake).  The meaning is akin to "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter to me" and probably has it's origins in the phrase "I do Not give a Damm".

My mind must have picked this up from a recent statement of Peter's on Facebook where he commented that since Boston and St. Louis were his two least favorite teams he would be thinking instead about next year's World Series when his KC team would finally rise to the top (or - Nd on this year's World Series).  My somewhat logical dream intersected Peter's impossible dream and so there you have it, a new word is birthed.

Later on that night I had a dream where I was in the back yard of the house I grew up in on 31st street in Holland.  The house had been sold two years ago to a Vietnamese woman who was now selling it and her son was ripping down branches from a willow tree in the back corner with members of his gang but were being told to stop by a group of a dozen high school band students who arrived on the property in formation dressed in their UCLA blue shorts and shirts.  I could go on from here but then you might be prompted to share one or more of your dreams with me and really, nd.

On Walden's Pond Scum

One day years ago my youngest, Becky, came to me and said,  "Hey Dad, I heard something funny today", to which I responded, "Funny Ha Ha, or funny interesting?"  From then on we always ask each other that same question when one of us wants to share "something funny".

I'm out on the road quite a bit, either working or commuting, and I tend to hear and see a lot of funny things.  Just in the last two weeks (1) I drove past a car parked along side the freeway and saw a heavy set man wearing grey sweatpants leaning into his trunk to get something, thus exposing his whole naked back end - Yikes!  Funny interesting, and (2) While riding shotgun on a road test I look over at a house and see a brown wood shelf inside at the middle of a picture window, curtains covering the window except for the shelf, and a big, very live grey cat sitting on top of the shelf watching the traffic go by - Also funny interesting.

And then there are things I hear on NPR (National Public Radio) on my commute.  I guess you be the funny judge.

I am very conservative and NPR tends to be very liberal.  Now just to generalize things, liberal thought is pro big government, pro choice, pro environment and pro tolerance.  Tolerance applies to any thought or action that is not mainstream but not to any Christian view that has absolutes.  This really all harkens back to the transcendentalist movement of the 19th century and it's literary masterpiece WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau, who, after sucking out all the marrow of life taught us that all ideas, especially those furthest away from conservative thought, are equally valid.  Thus if someone liberal associates you with the S word you should take it as a compliment, but if it comes from a conservative and now knowing what you know, you should respond - "That's funny".

I'm listening to NPR on the way home and there is a discussion on the ethics of doctors refusing to treat children whose parents have not seen that they have received their immunization shots.  I thought this would be interesting because I just talked with a very successful man who did not believe that immunization shots were safe for his kids.  He told me that he did a lot of independent research on the subject and that he believed that the doses given to very young children were way to much for their small bodies and that things such as autism could result.  His family stays away from processed foods and this guy says that his three children are never sick.

I'm not saying what is right and wrong here.  The guest professional in ethics, standing with current scientific opinion that there is no correlation between immunizations and autism presented clearly what the ethical problems were for doctors.  What I thought was "funny" here was her statement that "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of children have died from childhood sicknesses such as measles".  I began to wonder how much "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions" was.  Hundreds of millions would be at least 200 million, but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions would be, what, billions or trillions?

And then, after agreeing with a call in doctor that a paternalistic approach works best with her patients in the South who believe all this non scientific mumbo jumbo, the guest professional went into a coughing jag.  A very bad coughing jag that went on for minutes.  It may have been minutes and minutes and minutes.  I thought back to the guy with the healthy kids and verbalized in my car, funny Ha Ha.

Usually at the time I drive home NPR has on The Environment Report, which is produced by Michigan Public Radio and so includes mostly stories involving environmental efforts in Michigan.  A while back there was an segment where, because of the players, there were no clear liberal good and bad guys.  It seems that there was a Hindu retreat center located along the banks of a popular trout stream somewhere in Northern Michigan.  They built themselves a meditation pond which of course is liberal good but were being sued by a Ducks Unlimited, a Michigan hunting and fishing organization, which should be liberal bad because they promote gun use except that here their cause was liberal good because the mediation pond needed to be flushed from time to time and the resulting silt destroyed hatching areas for the trout downstream.  Mind you, the Hindu's right to their pond was equal to the fishes right to reproduce but some bad karma led to the unfortunate but necessary lawsuit.  Conflict can be funny.

I thought of this story last weekend when Jackie and I drove down to Tennessee to see our grand kids play a little soccer.  Jackie has just gotten over a cold and now I have it.  We are in a Courtyard by Marriott near Nashville, it is the middle of the night, the room is pitch black and I need to get up and go to the bathroom.  I swing my legs over to the floor but in my sickened condition I forget that my side of the bed is only about a foot away from the wall, which my forehead crashes into when I begin to stand up.  This results in a quarter size round bright red wound in the middle of my forehead.

The next morning after taking a shower I notice that Marriott hangs a pretty tag on the towel rack  It says that being a "green" company is very important to them so we must be sure to hang up any wet towels.  They provided no other explanation.  Perhaps our landfills are being clogged with mildewed towels from Marriott. I did as requested but am pretty sure they would not care for the round blood mark left on the wash towel.

That morning we go see Dafney play and then drive over to Knoxville for Brendan's first game.  To get to the field we drive a few miles of curving back country roads and just before we get to the soccer field, on the same side of the road, is a Hindu cultural center.  I looked in my rear view mirror to check out the red circle on my forehead, scanned the property to locate a meditation pond and thought that this was all too funny. There was a pond about a mile prior with several cows nearby but none here.

I set up my lawn chair, breathed in the fresh country mountain air, watch my grandson score a beautiful goal and forget for awhile that I am sick and wounded.  Ah, wonderful meditation!

This Year's Family Fast

Once again we get the chance to spend the next 40 days praying and fasting for what the Holy Spirit has placed on our hearts.  Earlier this week Jackie and I talked about what we felt we should be praying for and this morning, day one, I opened up my daily scripture reading to Psalm 112.  In God's wonderful timing it  spoke to me deeply about this year's prayer goals but also about what has been heavy on my heart for quite some time.

The Psalm speaks about both blessing and judgment.  The perspective though is not about praying to get something,  Instead it is about an awareness of who and where we are in God's plan while in the midst of this mixed up world.  It assures me that what I do today will have meaning long after the struggle is no longer mine.  So much in this world is but an allusion.  While we are driven to lust for what will become dust, obedience and trust in Him will never disappoint.

Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, 
who greatly delights in His commandments,
His descendants will be mighty on earth;

The generation of the upright will be blessed,
Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever,

Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous,

It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
He will maintain his course in judgment,
For he will never be shaken;

The righteous will be remembered forever.
He will not fear evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord,
His heart is upheld, he will not fear,
Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.

He has given freely to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted in honor.

The wicked will see it and be vexed,
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked will perish.

"Love Means . . . "

In the 70's movie LOVE STORY (#9 on the lost of all time romantic movies) pretty Ali MacGraw tells even prettier Ryan O'Neil that love means never having to say your sorry.  Half way through the movie O'Neil's character finds out from a doctor that MacGraw's character has an incurable disease but he doesn't tell her because graduating 3rd from Harvard Law School he learned never to give a direct answer.  She suspects something is a foot when O'Neil cries every time MacGraw calls him "Preppy" and never recovers from her bad luck, bad writing and bad acting.  Later on Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman parody the movie with one of my favorite lines ever, which goes something like - "Love means never having to say your sorry (cough, cough)."

Saturday morning I get up and ask Jackie if she had a good night sleep.  She tells me that she has a terrible sore throat.and that I better load up on vitamin C.  We ride to work together and soon my first customer arrives.  "How are you doing today Julian?" I ask.  "Not so good.  I have a teweble cold." he mumbles.  After a half an hour drive with my window down and purposely not engaging in any unnecessary conversation with Julian my next person arrives.  Dylan has thick glasses, a really bad greased down hair cut, is barely audible and his mouth is constantly open.  I think perhaps this guy is mentally challenged and don't converse with him either but realize half way through our drive that this is just another sick dude breathing through his mouth who happens to have a bad hair cut.

Well, right now I'm felling good.  I've taken another 1000 whatever of vitamin C this morning and have been praying for protection from nasty germs.  This should be a good week (cough, cough). 

This Will Be Written For The Generation To Come

From Psalm 102 we read:

You, O Lord, abide forever,
and Your name to all generations. (v 12)

This will be written for the generation to come,
that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

For He looked down from His holy height;
from heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To set free those who were doomed to death,

That men may tell of the name of the Lord (vs 18-21)


This psalm reminds me that I am more than a cog in the wheel of time, spinning out my days with no purpose.  One day I met the Master and His Spirit formed in me a desire to honor, serve and praise Him.  He is good!  He is trustworthy.  He has not disappointed.

It also reminds me that my life is not my own.  I find myself as the psalmist did with shortening days in a world filled with prisoners, sick and in self centered misery, who are condemned to spend eternity apart from the loving Lord.  Although I can only do what I can do I am charged with proclaiming to this generation the mercies of the Lord with the hope that many more will be able to join in the chorus of praise to their Savior.

And I am charged as well to remind this world the old saying that God has no grandchildren.  I proclaim to my children and others what the Lord has done and is doing in my life.  They must have their own God stories to proclaim, to family, to friends and to the next generation.  We change, but the Lord does not.  One day all generations of the redeemed with join together to worship and praise Him.

Of old you founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of your hands.
Even they will perish,
but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.

But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.  (vs 25-28)      

On Gretel's Path

 

After my Aunt Ann and Uncle Dale retired they created a beautiful formal garden patterned after ideas they gathered over many years of travel in Europe.  Memories from my visits include drinking homemade lemonade and eating scones with family while sitting underneath the shade of a grape arbor on a wonderful summer day.  Gardens take a lot of work - A LOT.  Like 8 hours a day work.  This was their love and passion.

When Ann passed,  Dale continued the work for awhile and hired someone to help but time moves on as it always does and eventually Dale left for even a better garden.  Recently one of their daughters and her husband retired and they moved into the house with the garden.  Everyone asks; "Oh, are you going to tend the garden?" as if that was something sane people would do.  Last I knew Gretel and Bill were quite skeptical about doing it.

Today on Face Book Gretel posts the above picture with the caption; "Walkway uncovered this week".  I can only imagine that at night they were hearing the Beasty's (from my poem below) low moans; "I'm hungry.  I'm hungry."

On Gretel's Path

When the Beasty was young

parents took Gret aside

showed her the beauty

mixed knowledge and pride

said if you are careful

our Beasty to ride

she'll love you and serve you,

but Gret's parents lied

Seems Beasty was hungry

but always well fed

so thousands adored her

from doorway to shed

they'd pet from stone benches

she'd follow where led

Gret thought it was tame

it was hungry instead

One day parents left

to never return

and Beasty stayed still

missing love that was earned

then let out a roar

for appetite spurned

the Beasty was wild

and not our concern

years later I heard

Gret looked for that beast

gathered plump juicy tasties

and set out a feast

found doorway and shed

on a path made her peace

such a beautiful creature -

WATCH YOUR BACK AT LEAST

More Than Coupon Snippers

As I approached the car I noticed that Lydia had a very sour look on her face.  In 14 years I've seen nervous.  I've seen happy.  I've seen nervous covered up by happy but this was something quite different, definitely a sour look.

Lydia who is 18 passes the Basic Skills and so we go out on the driving portion of the test.  Eventually I learn that she had attended a Christian school in town and because I was not familiar with it I asked her what denomination the students came from.  That too was new to me but given the name I could guess that it was to the far far conservative side of the Reformed tradition.  Around here we have from left to right;  Reformed, Christian Reformed, Protestant Reformed and then these guys.  I casually remark to Lydia that I suppose when she is looking to get married she is expected to choose someone from her denomination.  She tells me that is true and it might be a little difficult because there are only two local congregations and one of them is a little suspect in their theology.

I was able to get Lydia to almost smile a couple of times and being the curious type I did some research on her church when I got home.  Although I'm not going to go into any of the particulars just let me say that if I was a woman who attended that church I might look a little sour myself from time to time.    

Twice this past week I have been humbled by the example of women who heard from God and were obedient to His lead.  God moved through them into the lives and situations of others.  They had support from their husbands but the courage was theirs to step out in faith and then trust that God would do His part.  My response when hearing their reports is one of logic - Yes, this is the way the Holy Spirit moves, I am pleased and encouraged by the testimonies.  On the contrary their response to the move of God included logic plus emotion - We have heard from One who loves them and us, He has blessed the situation, He is so good!

It was to man that God gave the original prime directive.  God planted a garden, put man into it to cultivate it and keep it and then caused to grow out of the ground all sorts of trees that were pleasing to the sight and good for food.  In the midst of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Before the first woman entered the scene God charged mankind with this command; From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.

Later on a woman (taken out of man) was placed in the garden to be a helper suitable for man.  She was with him when the serpent questioned the prime directive.  "Has God said you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?  The woman replies that God said they may eat from any of the trees in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, adding that they were not even allowed to touch it or they would die.  (My guess is that the man said to the woman one day on a walk;  "Honey, see that tree. The fruit'll kill you.  Don't even touch it!)  The serpent responds; You surely shall not die!  For in the day you eat from it your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

It was the woman who saw that the tree was good for food and was a delight to the eyes and that it was desirable to make one wise.  It was the man standing next to her that did nothing.  He let the serpent talk.  He watched her pluck the fruit from the forbidden tree and then eat from it.  Then when she didn't keel over but instead offered him some he took the fruit from her and ate as well.

For the first time the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked.  In response they sew fig leaves together and make themselves loin coverings.  They then hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and attempt to hide among the trees.  God finds them and the man does the manly thing, he tries to blame it on the woman.

Later God says to the woman; I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth your children;  Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

To the man God says;  Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying "You shall not eat of it";  Cursed is the ground because of you;  In toil you shall eat of it . . . By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground because from it you were taken.  For you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Now the Lord God makes garments of skin for the man and the woman and clothes them.  Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil . . . God banishes them from the garden less they also eat from the tree of life and live forever.  Man loses his position as caretaker of the garden with all the benefits that provided.  He must now fight the rocks and thorns and thistles to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. The woman would be his partner.

This is the story of all of us.  It is where we came from and speaks of who we are and shows us where we are going.  Time and space does not permit me to explain to you the love that is in the blood, implied from the skin coverings, which is the story of our redemption.  I cannot here show you how many themes are carried throughout scripture that begin with this simple story.   Many times I have started here to help explain and understand how God designed us - body, soul and spirit - and what went wrong there by the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  But not today.

Instead I want to focus now in the most simple way upon the condition of the heart of man, a condition began those thousands of years ago and just as evident today as ever.  For the unbeliever it leads to eternal death.  For the believer it leads to temporary separation from fellowship with the Father.  For both it leads to legalism, with or without religion, that substitutes for the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.  It would seem reasonable to assume that prior to the tree incident man had walked and talked with the Lord God many times.  Sometimes they might discuss the needs of the garden.  Sometimes God might ask how things are going with the woman.   Sometimes God might tell man the story about how he made everything, saw that it was good and rested from His labors.  Sometimes God might explain the rebellion of the evil one, the most beautiful creature who was a murderer and liar from the beginning.  By walking with God man and woman had all the wisdom they would ever need.

And you will be like God, knowing good and evil.  Why did the Lord God place in the midst of the garden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then command man and woman not to eat from it? This I do not know.  I do know that throughout scripture God tests man to see where his heart is.  Will we trust Him even if we don't understand?  Do we want Him alone to be our Lord God?  Can we admire the beauty of what He has created and still not touch?

I am going to tell you a secret.  A lot of people in modern society believe that they are like God, knowing good and evil.  As long as they try to live a good life as they themselves define it or are mostly obedient to their particular religion they will be OK.  Obey the rules and you will get your golden ticket.

Some think that there is no hope for them, realizing that they have fallen far short of what their religion demands or what they have designed themselves.  They believe the hill of redemption is not climbable.

Friends, all of these avenues are nothing but fig leaves.  

I will not blame the woman of the story for the state of this world.  I will not deny her the chance to walk with the Lord God in the cool of the day by eating from the forbidden fruit and becoming her Lord.  I will cherish her and protect her and encourage her to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  And then we will sit down and admire the beauty of creation and plan how together we can follow this awesome Lord of ours.  And when I fall short, as I often do, she will show me what love and compassion and generosity are and tell me what she is hearing the Spirit say.

                

Simultaneous Translation

When you look at the list of names for the day's tests and see the second to last one is someone identified as Saw Tee thoughts run through your head.  Will he or she need a translator?  Have they ever driven before this month?  Is my will up to date?

Yesterday a car arrives at the appropriate time, a nice Asian gentleman gets out of the vehicle, says "Hello Bob, and then informs me that the guy who will take the test is on the way but will be using this car.  Since there are many times when people say they are "on the way" and will be there any moment but then they still have not arrived a half an hour later I tell the gentleman that his friend has 10 minutes to get here or I will not have enough time to conduct the test.

He tells me that he is doing a favor for the pastor of the church that is sponsoring this particular group of refuges, then gets out his cell phone, calls someone, and for several minutes is very insistent with whomever he is talking to, speaking in another language but interspersed with "right now!"  Five minutes later another vehicle arrives and out from the back pops Mr. Tee.  He is a nice looking, well built guy and I'm guessing he is originally from someplace like Burma or Nepal.

Before they arrived I asked the first guy if he would be translating and because he was I asked to see his driver's license to record the name and license number on my test form.  He told me that most people called him Tom.  I tell Tom to have Mr. Tee get in the car and we would begin by conducting a vehicle inspection.  Tom points to his vehicle and says to Mr. Tee; "Get in car!"  I then go to the front of the car and say to tap the horn.  "Horn!  Beep! Beep!" translates Tom.  Then I ask for the right and left turn signals.  "Signals!" translates Tom, pointing first to the right one and then the left.  At the back of the car I ask for Tee to step on the brakes.  "Brakes!" insists Tom to Tee.

I then begin to give the instructions for the parking maneuvers.  Now here to get the full impact of my experience I want you practice saying "that way" as Tom would say it.  For me to be able to duplicate it I need to first close my eyes as hard as possible and then pronounce "that" a little clipped, as in "tht" and "way" a little elongated and through the nostrils in a higher pitched voice as in "wAAAy".  Got it?  Good.

I tell Tom to tell Tee that it will be a penalty any time the vehicle goes over a yellow line or hits a cone and that it is also a penalty each time the vehicle goes from reverse to forward.  Immediately Tom informs Tee; "Yellow line.  Bad!  Cones.  Bad!  Your car go this way, not that way!"  Then I point to the yellow forward stop line which is the first exercise and tell Tom to tell Tee that he needs to pull forward and get his vehicle close to but not on or past the yellow line in front of us. When he is done put the vehicle in park and tap the horn.  Tom responds; "You go that way!  That way!  Yellow line bad!  Then horn.  Beep!  Beep!"

We go on with the parking lot portion of the test.  About every fifth word is in another language so I'm thinking that maybe Tee really needs a translator but it's like I'm saying something and the echo comes back instantly and everything has somehow become quite garbled.  Mr. Tee does quite well on the parking portion and we go out for our drive.  The first section is in a residential area.  I say to turn left at the next intersection, Tom translates; "Intersection.  That way!"  We get to the four way stop and Tee blows right through it.  We head back to start and I spend a few minutes explaining the error to Tom and Tee using visual aides as best I can.  Although Tee hasn't said one word this whole time Tom tells me that Tee doesn't understand why he failed so he will drive him back to the spot and show him.

I get out of the vehicle and head to my car and then Tom walks over.  I have 5 more guys that need to get their test.  When can we do it?  And I'm thinking that I really need to look at that will again.    

Car Wash

Road construction this summer has limited us to just one route.  As we travel on Division Avenue toward 54th street we pass multiple times a day a person holding a "WE BUY GOLD" sign in one hand (the sign also has a rope attached to both sides that slides around the back of the neck) while the other hand waves at whatever traffic flows past.  There are two people who share this awesome responsibility.  One is a man and the other a woman, both look like they are in their mid 20's and both are obviously "special needs".  They never smile and always have this look of grave concern on their faces. Silver and gold have I not but what I have I give them.  From my passenger seat I smile and wave back.

One day last week as we are approaching our gold man my cute young teen driver remarks with a condescending tone indicating this is something she would never do; "That looks SO hard!"  I respond; "I'm guessing this is one of the few jobs he can get and he's thrilled to have it."  I don't think I'm in anyway superior to this teen.  If given a chance she might hand a few bucks to the several healthy looking intersection panhandlers we also pass each afternoon on our route while I wonder if McDonald's has stopped hiring.

When I was growing up our extended family had property on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.  Many beautiful summer Sunday afternoons and evenings were spent there with my parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles and of course my grandparents who were the part owners of that wonderful piece of real estate.  Sometimes other family would also show up, more likely on a Saturday or during the week and in one of those families was a girl who had downs syndrome.  She was a few years older than me and I remember my mother saying that kids like her required a lot more effort from parents to raise and that the  normal life expectancy for children like her did not extend much longer than 30 years.

When you are a youngster you don't ponder much about getting to thirty.  The awfulness of the fact was tempered then by the thought that there was still a long way to go to get there.  A more earth shattering concept was delivered to me by my mother the day I turned thirty.  "Just think Bob.  In just 10 more years you will turn 40!"  I think I was depressed for about a month after that little jolt of reality.  I'm sure that despite all the extra work, if the parents of my third cousin had received that news they would have thrown a party.

We were not real close to that family and I cannot recall now what ever happened to her or even her name for that matter.  I'm sure I would recognize it if mentioned but now since my mind draws a blank I will call her Sarah.  She was the first "special needs" person I had known.  We did not interact much if at all.  I was a boy, she was a girl.  I liked jumping into the waves or playing catch or digging and forming sand forts.  Sarah stayed close to her mom.  What I did pick up, even then, was that Sarah's parents loved her and would do anything for her and that she was family just like the rest of us.

Years later my older sister and husband had what would be their only child.  At around the age of two it seemed that Kevin stopped developing mentally.  The difficulty of his autism was compounded by physical problems in his legs as well as periodic epileptic episodes.  Kevin was the same age as my youngest Becky and you would think, looking through the eyes of the world, that some things are just not fair.  Here I was, nothing special but blessed with 5 healthy, bright and active children and there was my sister, fighting everyday for Kevin with officials and authorities so that he could get a break.  We could look at our kids and wonder what great things were ahead of them.  Carol and Ed would hug Kevin and hope for a good night.

Jackie, the kids and I loved seeing Kevin.  He would learn these little sayings and then impress us with them when we got together.  I think the best was one time when we were with my brother Jim.  Now I have never been overly concerned with my looks.  My hair does what it does, my six pack is now a case and I like to wear the same Levi jeans all week.  On the other hand Jim has always liked to look good.  Every hair on his mustache is trimmed perfectly, he wears stylish clothes and his personal trainer goes by the name of Swen.  Kevin was about 16 and in a room full of people including me but he walks over and sticks a finger in Jim's belly and says, gaining steam with each word; "Looks  like  someone's  had  ONE  TOO   MANY   HOT   FUDGE  SUNDAES!"  It was just too perfect to forget.

One day Jackie and I came home and received a message on our answering machine that I also will never forget.  It was choked out from my sister Carol.  "Kevin's dead."  Kevin who was then 21 was taking a bath, had an epileptic episode, and drowned.  When we went to his funeral in Chicago we met some of his special needs friends, heard stories about what he and his best buddy liked to do, and found out a lot more about the activities he loved, such as archery.  Kevin was a blessing.  Ed said that there were times when it didn't seem such a blessing, as when Kevin got older (and heavier) and their tandem bike was heading uphill without Kevin's assist.  But mostly a blessing.

During a break while I was working on this post Jackie and I went out to a Texas Steak House.  Wouldn't you know it, in the booth across from us was a family with a special needs girl who looked about 18.  Her moaning was occasionally quite loud but guess what, our steaks were still great.  I just smiled.  This is life, we are all on this journey together.

One last story.  There is a Shell gas station on the North side of Holland on the busy corner of River Avenue and Ottawa Beech Road.  During the summer months the station provides a back area for groups to raise money doing car washes.  The usual set up is this.  I drive by and see two cute girls standing on the corner dressed in bathing suits, sometimes bikinis, and they hold up a car wash sign.  Some of these girls are real hawkers.  They wave, they point at your car, they yell; "come on buddy, your car is dirty" and since it is I may stop.  Often standing next to the two girls is one boy who does no work at all but is just there to chat up the girls.  He is often wearing shades.  Then when I drive by the area where the cars are being washed I see several kids spraying the hose at several other kids while the cars are being washed by the adults who are supervising their youth group.

One day as I approach I see two girls and a boy at the corner but something looks a little different.  As I get closer I notice that these are special needs kids, thick bodies and all, dressed in modest bathing suits, waving their car wash signs.  Driving past the washing area I see the rest of the special needs kids spraying the hoses at each other, their parents or supervisors doing the washing.  Ha!  Kids are kids, where ever, what ever.

We all have a destiny that goes far beyond the fleeting years given us.  It calls Sarah, it calls Kevin, it calls the moaning girl from Texas Road House.  They are the innocents.  It calls us as well.  One day I did turn 40 and then 50 and then 60.  One day I will stop turning and some wag might inscribe on my grave stone; "Look's like someone's had ONE TOO MANY HOT FUDGE SUNDAES!'

Chaos Theory

This week I was waiting for a customer while sitting in our white plastic chair which is stationed underneath a tree shaded area next to where we begin the parking lot portion of our driving tests.  That chair has become my summer retreat during this very busy season.  Sometimes I imagine that the road in the distance is actually an ocean, the asphalt leading to it a beach and the old beat up buildings in between forests of gently swaying palms.  I rest, holding an imaginary lemonade, enjoy the cool shaded breeze and think deep thoughts.  That is until a car roars by and a woman opens her window and tosses out an empty energy drink can and fast food wrapper upon my beach.

Things have changed in my little paradise this summer.  The powers that be have started a road project at a main intersection near us and the traffic volume through our parking lot has increased four fold.  None of these are what I would call "Happy Drivers".  Most are in a hurry, upset they had to endure any delay and are using this supposed shortcut aggressively to try and make up time.  It is high noon in Dodge City with every man and woman for themselves and everyone believing that they and only they have the right of way.

I would like to be able to describe the traffic patterns for you but I believe (after close observation and more deep, deep thought) that things are operating in a manner that can best be described at Chaos Theory.

In 1972 Edward Lorenz wrote a paper titled Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?

This paper contained his definition of chaos.  Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.

Let me try to set the scene for you.  My ocean is 28th street where traffic is always very heavy.  About 50 yards to my right is Clyde Park Avenue.  Construction has brought traffic down to one lane each way at this intersection and no one is able to turn onto Clyde Park from 28th street.  On the corner of this intersection is a gas station with some other shops, then to my left is Duthler's grocery, then a large parking lot area which will one day become a Goodwill store, then mall parking.  There are several drives where traffic can enter from 28th street.  There is a drive in front of the mall, a drive that runs along the side of the mall and a drive that goes past the back of the mall.  The large parking area which is to the side of the mall and which is in front of us and in back of Duthler's is the wild west of driving.

The parking lot is filled with yellow parking lines that were put in solely for an event called Metro Cruise, a car show that occurs just once a year.  There are double yellow lines and then open spaces that indicate where people are supposed to drive but few seem confined to those prescribed areas.  Traffic heads to Clyde Park along an angle from the back of the mall, from the drive from the middle of the side, from the drive on an angle from just in front of the mall, from a sharp angle from the drive from 28th street in front of the mall and straight on from the side of Duthler's, these vehicles coming either direct from 28th street or from the drives in front of the mall.  All of these seem to converge at the back side of Duthler's where they meet traffic heading the other way from Clyde Park.  This traffic can see vehicles approaching from the back of the mall and from the middle but are blind to the other traffic until the last second, this blindness the same for the other direction as well.

In my rather limited observation time I have seen hundreds of hand gestures and screeching brakes.  People get out of their cars and argue who is responsible for close calls (perhaps 40 mph through a parking lot is reasonable in some minds).  People do not get out of their cars and get chased around the parking lot by the other car.  Unwary pedestrians do these little escape dances.  But I have not yet seen an actual collision.

Perhaps the Brazilian butterfly who designed this mess was some kind of genius.  I have heard of towns in England that do not post speed signs, the theory being that people compensate for the lack of direction and actually go slower.  Honey, this is not England.  The blokes here take the lack of order as a Carte Blanch to go faster via the shortest available route.  And yet, no collisions.  Still, seeing that "the approximate present does not approximately determine the future" there might be fun times ahead.  As long as no one gets hurt.  As long as it's not me.     

Congo Man

It was on a nice Saturday last month when a blue car pulls into our parking area and out of it pop three people who obviously are recently from somewhere in Africa.  I approach, introduce myself, and ask if someone is scheduled for a driving test.  This actually occurs quite often.  What usually happens is that recent immigrants go to our test site to practice their parking, they see me and decide to play it cool by sitting there while telling me that they are just checking out the required parking maneuvers, then when I leave with a client they hustle and get their practice in.

I tell the leader of the group that my name is Bob and he introduces himself and gives me the English meaning of his African name.  His first name is something like "One God has blessed" and his last name means something like "Rock of God".  Then he tells me that he is a pastor.  When I ask him if he has an appointment scheduled he says that he will do his test with me today.  I respond that I'm pretty sure that he is not on my schedule - "You must go to our office over there to make an appointment"  to which he responds; "Then I will make an appointment to take my test with you today!"  After I tell him again that I am booked and that today is not possible he assures me that "everything is possible."  "I believe that as well" I tell him "But you better start praying that someone cancels".

"One God has blessed" doesn't head to the office.  He and the other two people stand outside their car to watch the other examiner conduct the parking test with a client.  Since I am waiting for my next person I ask the pastor if he knows my friend.  "What? he wonders.  "Do you know my good friend?" I ask again.  "Who would that be?" he answers, very puzzled.  "My good friend Jesus!" I announce.

A big smile spreads across his face.  "You are a brother!  I will do my test with you today!"  "Then you better get to the office and start praying" I tell him again.  It turns out that today did not happen for the pastor but he scheduled for the next Saturday.

Two days before our first encounter I had this dream.  I am sitting in the tailgate of a pickup truck, facing away from the truck and looking at a road that climbs up a hill.  Next to me is Jesus who is ministering to a woman who is sick and laying in the bed of the pickup.  At the top of the hill is a driveway which leads sharply right to a garage and in the garage is a woman who is in a coffin.  I cannot actually see inside the garage but in my dream I knew this was so.  Several women start walking from the driveway, down the hill toward us and several more women come out of the garage onto the driveway, looking at us.  The women coming down the road call out to Jesus who turns His head quickly to look at them, once, twice and then a third time.  He leaves me and the women in the pickup and starts walking up the hill toward the other women.  After Jesus gets about 10 yards away I think I better hop off the tailgate and follow Him.  Then I woke up.

Nothing clear came to me as to the meaning of the dream.  I thought maybe there were references in it to the story in the Bible where Jesus hears about the death of his good friend Lazarus, waits a couple days, then goes to where he is buried and raises him from the dead, but that does not seem to apply to anything personal for me.  I pray and ask God to show me if there is anyone that I test that He wants me to share this with.

The Saturday comes when I do indeed have a test scheduled with "One God has blessed."  As we are driving along I find out that he is a missionary who has come from the Congo to the U.S.  This privately amuses me.  If I was asked where was the deepest and the darkest part of Africa I probably would respond that it would be the Congo.  Yet today we have missionaries coming from there to our enlightened country.  How ironic.

I ask him if he believes in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  "Well yes, of course!" he answers.  The pastor is connected with a Pentecostal denomination that is based in California and he will be going there later in the year for missionary training.  At this point I remember my dream but am hesitant to share it.  I think I should but I don't want to try to appear "spiritual" to him just because I had a dream with Jesus in it.  My worry is that it would be wrong to use the dream to gain "brownie points" with someone because he is a pastor.

But then I recall a story told earlier this year by my own pastor Dave.  One time when he was an inexperienced youth pastor the senior pastor at his church was going through a very difficult period in his life.  A scripture verse came to Dave that seemed to apply to the situation but he was not bold enough to share it.  A week later Dave gets a phone call from his father who is also a pastor.  "Dave, God gave me this verse and told me it was for your senior pastor."  This was the exact same verse but still Dave did not follow his original prompting or the request of his father.  Two weeks later Dave has a scheduled meeting with the senior pastor and Dave asks how things are going.  The pastor tells Dave that the last month has been hell, but last night he was reading the Bible and a verse caught his attention.  It assured him that God understands everything he has been going through and that He has been with him all along.  "I am so relieved.  A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I am so much better today."  The verse was of course the same one that Dave and his father had, a verse that could have brought relief weeks earlier.

When we get finished with the test and the paperwork I share the dream with the African pastor.  I tell him that I am usually quite good with interpretations but that nothing had occurred to me until the last leg of our route (this was just after I decided that I would tell him the dream).  In the Bible Jesus tells us that He does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19).  The message of this dream is that we should do what we see Jesus doing.

The dear pastor from the Congo grabs his steering wheel and in his broken English tells me that after we first met his wife told him that "that man has something to tell you."

Do I know what help the sharing of my dream will be for the Congo man?  No.  I suspect that the cost and everything else involved to go to California for missionary training may seem overwhelming at this point.  Just because we believe that "everything is possible" does not make it a breeze to take the next step, even for a man of faith.  But if our heart is right God finds ways to encourage us.  And I too am encouraged.  

That's A Great Idea

More on Good Bob.

Two days after my post, Good Bob - Bad Bob, I run into Bob at our office.  He is sitting in the back in his chair (my chair when he is not there) and overhears a woman up front making an appointment for a road test.  The woman who is about 50 years old says to our office person that she is not too worried about being able to pass.  I happen to be upfront at the time and introduce myself to this lady because I notice that her test time will be one that I will be doing.  Then I head to the back where I great Bob.

Bob remarks to me that he wonders when someone says things like she is not worried about passing that perhaps this is a subconscious sign that she is actually worried about it.  I respond by telling Bob that I have noticed that at the beginning of a road test before we head out, if someone has a question about driving, then after I explain to them the proper thing to do it is very likely that they will still make the mistake they expressed concern about.  For example, I've had someone ask;  "So if I run a stop sign then that is an automatic failure, right?"  They guy proceeds to run a stop sign.  Another person will ask if they need to check their blind spots every time they change lanes and then during the test they never check any blind spots.

I thought these examples would confirm to Bob that there might be some merit to his original thesis but remember, Bob is a teacher and so his response now is to try and help me do a better job of telling a person not to run through a stop sign.  So he says to me;  "Just toward the end when I was teaching in the Grand Rapids public schools we were taught about the six ways of learning.  Some people do not respond to verbal information.  Perhaps you should get out a scrap piece of paper and diagram the proper procedures.and then point out to them during the test where this might come into play"

This makes me imagine drawing an intersection, a stop sign and two cars smashing into each other with flames and flying tires and bloody bodies on the ground.  A few crayons would help here.  But I am not a teacher, I am a people person and so I answer Bob;  "That sounds like a great idea!"  He is happy and I am happy that he is happy.

Later that afternoon I'm out with a teen age boy and I ask Corbin if the pick up truck we were in was his.  The dad tells me from the jump seat in the back that this is the dad's Toyota Tacoma but that Corbin has his own pick up.  He did not bring it because it has a manual transmission and they thought it would be easier to pass the test with an automatic.  We are midway through the route and since Corbin has had both hands on the wheel the entire time I feel safe to remark that one of the main problems with using a manual transmission on the test was that a lot of people like to keep one hand on the shifter and that can rack up a lot of points.  Wouldn't you know it, from then on Corbin takes one hand off the wheel every time he turns right.

I would like to tell Bob this the next time we meet but then again, no.  Maybe it's like the real old guy I saw walking slowly in the residential area yesterday.  He is wearing a paisley shirt in brown tones, a pair of bright blue shorts, long neon green socks and brown dress shoes.  Sometimes things just don't make sense.

 

Good Bob - Bad Bob

Our organization is licensed by the State of Michigan to conduct driver testing for automobiles, trucks, buses and motorcycles.  I am appointed by this organization but am trained and licensed directly by the state.  Because trucks have the capacity to carry goods across state lines (interstate commerce) the whole driver testing division for Michigan is overseen by the Feds.  This complicates the heck out of everything, makes it a lot more costly for our state to oversee test organizations (in vehicle and undercover surveillance requirements, etc.) but does result in limiting the number of testers (me) which is a good thing (for me).  If I follow the rules and don't upset my employer there will be a demand for my services.

The demand for what I do is not as great as it is in a place like Nepal though.  Jackie found out last week from a Nepalese that there are 3 driver testers for the whole country.  They come together to a certain place, stay a month and then move on to another part of the country.  A person buys a book of tickets for 900 (he didn't tell Jackie 900 what).  Each book has 30 tickets.  You sign up for your test, give the tester a ticket and drive him around for 15 minutes in a Volkswagen that Nepal provides.  If you pass you get your license.  If you fail you can give him another ticket and go for 15 minutes more.  Since almost no one in Nepal owns a car the Volkswagen trip is both training and testing.  Once they leave a person has a least a 6 month wait before the group of 3 returns with their Volkswagens.

There are 6 churches in the Grand Rapids area that sponsor refugees from Nepal.  When I remarked to a sponsor one time that it didn't seem that his guy had too much time behind a wheel he told me;  "Well, the first time he ever rode in a car was in the trunk with 5 other guys as they were leaving the country."   

The business that I work for is also the state's largest for conducting driver's training.  Driver's training is regulated by the same division of the Secretary of State that is in charge of driver testing and Michigan takes this quite seriously.  Extensive training is required to qualify as a driver trainer here, individuals that teach youths must be licensed and follow established rules but there are no limits on the number of people that can get licensed to teach.

Many people who teach driver's ed are or have been school teachers.  At one time driver's ed was taught either during the school year as a class or during the summer by teachers who had the time and the incentive to take the education requirements to get licensed and to conduct training during the summer.  This service was provided free to the student but the teachers were getting compensated.  Those funds came from the state.  When the state came under budget stress the funds were first reduced and then eliminated, resulting in the explosive growth of private driver training business.  Most hired the teachers who were already licensed and found ways to use school classrooms and facilities for free.

There are some people who have their license to teach and to test but not the majority.  It actually can be quite difficult for people who teach to change mindsets and test because as testers we are just observing how a person does.  We can and do offer advice after the test but to do so during would not provide an accurate assessment of a person's knowledge or abilities.  I should not be invested in seeing a person perform well during a test.  That would invalidate the results.  This is not easy.  I like people and wish them the best but I am a skeptic at heart.  To pass they have to demonstrate to me that they can perform to standards set by the state that provide safety for both driver and others.  I understand people get nervous while being tested but after going through thousands of red lights and stop signs, failures to yield while turning or changing lanes and too many STUPID things to recount, I am not their buddy.

Let me tell you briefly about my first 6 tests from yesterday.  I start out with 16 year old Jeremy.  While doing the Basic Skills test in the parking lot he hits a cone coming into the first backup maneuver, goes forward to change his angle for a second point, hits the same cone again backing in and goes past the back line and cone.  On the parallel park he knocks over a cone on both the back and side lines, gets a point for going forward and ends with another point.  I explain the failure to both Jeremy and his dad and assure them that if Jeremy takes it half speed next time he will do well and pass.  Both understand.

Twenty-four year old self taught Kim is my second client.  She is doing average but then enters the expressway at 35 mph.  Slow expressway entry's are about the scariest thing for me as a tester and Kim fails.  Third is a guy by the name of Haopeng.  He is 19 and has taken driver's training but blows right through a 4 way stop in the residential area at the beginning of the test route.  He looked both ways but did not see the stop sign.  I bring him back early.  Thankfully the fourth guy passes.

While checking the permit of my next guy, 16 year old Kelvin, I see that it says "corrective lens" so I ask him if he is wearing his contacts.  When he tells me no I ask if he brought his glasses with him.  Kelvin tells me no again and says that he only needs his glasses for reading.  I reply that while that might be true he must have worn glasses when taking his eye test and that the State of Michigan requires that he be wearing said glasses when driving and while taking this test.  He tells me his glasses are broken.  Kelvin and his mom had arrived for the test early so I give them 20 minutes to drive home to obtain his glasses.  When they get back I notice that these glasses are not broken and that the side plastic frames extend about two inches past his ears.  I figure chances were good that he either borrowed someone's or stopped at a drug store and picked out a cheap pair so I needed to be a little extra cautious.  We get to the first stop in the early residential area, Kelvin looks both ways, and then starts to pull out into the path of an oncoming vehicle.  I've been pretty successful in the past with "Stop - STOP - STOP!!!" and it worked again.  Back to base early.

This is now 4 failures out of my first 5 tests and I'm praying for someone normal.  The next guy, self taught 25 year old  John, is taking his second test with me.  The first time he said he failed the parking lot portion because he was very nervous.  Today he does very well on that and we get to take our drive.  We make it through the residential area, take a right turn, and I give him instructions to turn left at the next traffic signal, about 4 blocks away.  This intersection has a left turn lane with it's own light but John stops in the through lane, puts his turn signal on and when the light turns green I tell him (because it is illegal to turn from where we are) that we now need to continue straight.  We head back to go and in the process need two left turns where John does not realize that even though the light is green he still needs to yield to oncoming traffic before he turns.  I'm actually getting kinda excited now because this has been a record day for me.         

There is a driver trainer by the name of Bob who teaches classes at our office in Wyoming.  He is a wonderful guy, ex teacher, very smart but also very literal.  The first couple of times I made puns when he was around he remarked after some thought;  "Oh, that was a joke.  Funny."  I've seen him in front of the driver's ed students a few times and he is great.  Very passionate, remembers their names, calm, knowledgeable and concerned.  He has the heart of a teacher.  When I see him taking a break he is either reading or eating his healthy food and we have a nice conversation until he has to abruptly leave because he always seems to be in a hurry.  After he found out we had the same name I started calling him "Good Bob" and referring to me as "Bad Bob".  Each time I great him as "Good Bob" he sincerely assures me that he is a normal guy just like anyone else.

This week I am taking a break sitting in Good Bob's chair in the back of the classroom and I see two little orange safety cones in the area where Bob keeps his materials.  These are about 3 inches high with a wide rubberized base and each has a feel good saying printed on it.  While I love quotes or sayings from scripture I have never been moved by a lot of the other bumper sticker wisdom you can buy in all those vacation town gift shops, unless I happen to find it funny for some reason. 

On one of the cones was the following:  "Failure is an event, not a person."  What a perfect sentiment for a caring teacher.  I thought if I had it I would add the following sentence and then place it on the dash board during my tests.  Failure is an event, not a person.  Got that ass h....   But that would be Bad Bob.  No more tickets for me.